Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
Convicted triple murderer Daniel Agard has lost his bid to secure early release from prison.
Delivering a judgment on Monday, High Court Judge Westmin James rejected Agard’s case, in which he challenged not being afforded remission on his sentence.
Agard filed the novel lawsuit late last year after he was re-sentenced for murdering his great-grandmother, great-aunt and great-uncle in 2001.
Agard, who received a 28-year sentence but was given credit for the time he spent on remand before being convicted and on death row before being re-sentenced, claimed that he would not have to serve the remaining five years and four months of his sentence if he had been granted remission by the Commissioner of Prisons for the entire period of his incarceration.
Under the remission procedure, sentences are reduced by up to a third based on a convict’s good behaviour whilst in prison.
In determining the case, Justice James rejected Agard’s claims that he could have received remission for the period he served in prison before his re-sentencing, last year.
Stating that he could only be eligible for remission after he was re-sentenced, Justice James said: “Prior to being re-sentenced, he was not serving a sentence of imprisonment, he was to be executed and subsequently not given a determinate sentence.”
Justice James also ruled that Agard and other prisoners are not automatically entitled to remission.
Based on his findings on the issue, Justice James rejected Agard’s claims that his constitutional rights were breached.
Agard and Lester Pitman were accused of murdering agricultural consultant John Cropper, his mother-in-law Maggie Lee, 68, and sister-in-law Lynette Lithgow-Pearson, 57.
Cropper was Agard’s great uncle, Maggie Lee was his great-grandmother and Lithgow-Pearson was his great-aunt.
The three relatives were killed at Cropper’s Cascade home in December 2001. Their bodies were found by Cropper’s housekeeper the following day.
In 2004, Agard and Pitman were convicted of the triple murder.
Agard was again convicted on his retrial.
While he was initially given the mandatory death penalty, the sentence was commuted after the five-year period, for lawfully carrying it out, expired.
His re-sentencing exercise was as a result of a landmark Privy Council decision from 2022, in which the country’s highest appellate court ruled that convicted murderers, who can not be executed because of delays in carrying out the mandatory sentence for murder, should receive definitive prison terms as opposed to commuted sentences for the remainder of their natural lives.
In passing the sentence on Agard, High Court Judge Gillian Scotland raised concerns over his ability to successfully reintegrate into society when he completes his sentence.
Justice Scotland pointed to Agard’s failure to participate in prison training programmes and his multiple breaches of prison rules.
She suggested that he still had time to improve and participate in rehabilitation programmes.
“There are issues of rehabilitation that need to be addressed before he is released,” she said.
Agard was represented by Gerald Ramdeen and Dayadai Harripaul.
The Prisons Commissioner and the Office of the Attorney General were represented by Rishi Dass, SC, Kellisha Bello, Avion Romain, Vandana Ramadhar, Rachel Wright, Domonique Bernard, and Chelsea Downes.
